AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 71 
10a. ENGLISH SPARROW. 
Passer domesticus (Linn.). 
Resident; abundant. This pest’is most plentiful along the 
lines of the Baltimore & Ohio and Chesapeake & Ohio Rail- 
roads. Remote from these lines, and in the interior of the 
State, it seems to be only tolerably common, but it is increas- 
ing each year. I observed it in all the boroughs and smaller 
villages. In many rural districts it has become the principal 
species, especially in the Ohio Valley, and it has spread even 
to the foot hills of the mountains. In regard to this bird asa 
fruit destroyer, on several occasions I have seen it deliberately 
plunge its bill into cultivated grapes to obtain the juice, thus 
destroying large numbers by causing them to wither and de- 
cay. The following list embraces much of its food: buds and 
blossoms of the maple, cherry, apple, pear, and plum; fruits or 
strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and grapes; bits of bread, 
cabbage, potatoes, wheat, corn, and oats; salad, peas, and other 
herbaceous plants, with a change to a few insects occasionally 
but these are few in numbers. Sometimes it feeds upon the 
seeds of ragweed (Ambrosia artemtsiefolia), pigweed (Ama- 
rantus albus), and lambs’ quarters ( Chenopodium album), 
109. PURPLE FINCH. 
Carpodacus purpureus (Gmel.). 
Transient visitant; tolerably common. I observed a few on 
November 4 near Romney, Hampshire County. 
Te: RED CROSSBILL. 
Loxia curvirostra minor (Brehm). 
Winter visitant; tolerably common. This and the following 
species are generally confounded under the name Crossbill. In 
these birds the mandibles are rather long, thick at the base, 
much curved, and cross each other when the bill is closed: 
Their food consists principally of seeds of coniferous trees. 
111. W HITE-W INGED CROSSBILL. 
Loxia leucoptera Ginel. 
Winter visitant; rare. Several were taken by Mr. Brown, 
of Parkersburg, in the pine districts on the east slope of the 
Alleghanies during severe winters. 
